Mercedes
Hamilton topped FP3, and Mercedes went into qualifying as one of the favourites. When Hamilton topped Q2 as well, they certainly seemed in the mix but wound up behind McLaren on the first runs in Q3. The second runs saw Russell towing Hamilton again, but while he improved to secure third, Hamilton’s last effort was a touch messy and he had to settle for sixth – which might be something of a disappointment.
Lewis Hamilton, 6th, 1:19.513
“I am very disappointed with how today went. I think we could have been on the front-row, maybe even pole position. Unfortunately, I just didn’t do the job today. I lost one tenth and-a-half through turns one and two, and then one more tenth in the final corner. There is nobody else to blame but myself. Qualifying has been a weakness of mine recently, but I’ll keep trying to figure it out.
“We have a good race car. That should give us confidence for tomorrow. The team has done an amazing job to get the W15 into a much better window than it was in Zandvoort. The car has been feeling so much better.”
George Russell, 3rd, 1:19.440
“P3 was a good result today. It was very tight out there between several teams so starting on the second row is not a bad place to be. It took me a little bit of time to get the most out of the car; we looked at how to get the best out of the tyres and I saved my two best laps for last. To be just one tenth off pole position is a little frustrating but overall, we can be happy with our Saturday.
“The McLarens are very quick at the moment. It is super impressive. Hopefully we can challenge them into the first corner and get ahead. If we can’t, I think it will be difficult to race them tomorrow. It is very hot out there though and the tyres are suffering. It will be interesting to see what impact that has on the Grand Prix.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
We have to be pleased with today given our poor performance in Zandvoort. We have been able to bounce back strongly here in Monza and, at least in Qualifying, we were fighting at the very front. The McLarens are the benchmark at the moment and we able to challenge them today. It was incredibly close out there too. Lewis was just half-a-tenth shy of George and that was the difference between several positions. Small differences can really have a big impact at present.
“The McLarens have been very good on their tyres in recent races. That will help them tomorrow and you have to say that they are favourites heading into race day. Others were quick in their long runs on Friday though so I don’t think you can rule anyone out. We will be pushing hard to get back on the podium.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“We knew it was going to be tight at the front today. It was therefore not unexpected that the field was so close at the end of Q3. Ferrari managed to get both of their cars into the 0.073s gap that was between Lewis and George. McLaren meanwhile have been quick at every track we’ve visited recently so it was no surprise to find that we couldn’t quite match them. That is both frustrating and encouraging. The gap to P1 was just over one tenth of a second and pole position was within touching distance for both our drivers.
“George is well placed lining up in P3. Our starts have been good recently and it’s a long run to turn one. If we can get between the McLarens off the line, that will help our chances of a strong afternoon. Lewis has a bit of work to do starting from behind the Ferraris, but the degradation here looks set to be high. There could be plenty of opportunity to get into the fight at the front if that is the case. As we know, he is one of the best at tyre management so we can be excited as to what tomorrow may bring.”